The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
